The ultimate goal of sociology is to critically examine the socially contingent nature of the world around us. More than anything, I want my students to understand humanity’s active role in the formation of society. College is the time for students to explore the ramifications of a history we all make, but not necessarily in the way we intend. Which is to say, students should be shown the potential of their own agency, but also shown how their agency is shaped by pre-existing social structures.

In accomplishing this goal, I believe the classroom should not simply be a site of one-way knowledge transmission. Instead, the classroom should be a site of knowledgeable debate. And, in allowing room for debate, the true diversity of perspectives (arising from a diversity of life experiences) can flourish. For me, a successful course combines the “book knowledge” of social theory with current events and (most importantly) with the students’ daily lives. It is at this juncture (at the intersection of theory and experience) where diversity ceases to be an abstract ideal and can be put into real practice. The rubber hits the road, so to speak, when real life connects with the intellectualism of academic text. Moreover, when the divergent histories of a diverse student body can encourage learning through identifying with others, the promise of C. Wright Mills' sociological imagination truly comes to fruition.